The Quaternary (since 1.8 million years) has been affected by extreme climate variability on different time scales. Its glacial and inter-glacial cycles have had dramatic impacts on marine and terrestrial ecosystems. As the current biodiversity of these ecosystems is partly the result of high cyclical adaptational and migrational stress, a better understanding of biodiversity variability during the Quaternary should help drawing prospects for future climate-related biodiversity loss. Little is known however about natural and climate-driven biodiversity dynamics in the Quaternary. The purpose of our research is therefore to improve the current understanding of these dynamics by conducting analyses along a transect from terrestrial to shallow marine (reef) and open marine (nekton and benthos) ecosystems. In this regard, these projects are spatially and temporally complementary to project group A2. Our studies focus on the eastern part of the Mediterranean in particular the Tenaghi-Philippon drill core that represents a highly precisely dated climate archive for the past 1.2 million years.